Faint Hope
by Wamakai
Summary: It's been a long time since... well, since Star went missing. And Marco never stopped looking for her... Starco Ship; Now multichap! Please R&R? Many thanks! (I've also edited the first chapter. Corrections made to the second one - sorry for the inconvence)
1. Chapter 1

**I've been having a major, brutal battle with writer's block and it has interfered with many of my other fanfics. It's been, I think, a whole year since I updated and I really started to miss it. I think I've started breaking ground again, although by this time I've definitely lost most of my readership... All of that aside, this ficlet is majorly angsty and born of my absolute frustration at the blow my Starco ship has taken with the latest episode (Starcrushed).**

 **All the same, here is my attempt as surviving this hard time, so, please R &R? Many thanks.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the characters and/or locations in this fan fiction story that you may recognise from the TV show (SVTFOE). I am only responsible for the plot.**

"Ma...o...Mar...o...rco..."

The voice seemed far away and yet, so familiar. Marco woke with a start and looked around the room. It was just the same as it had been before... after...

He sighed and rubbed a frustrated hand down his face. It had been five years since that day. He'd grown up. Well, he should have. He still had friends... and his parents...

He flopped back onto the bed.

It wouldn't be the same.

Of course not.

Star Butterfly had flown into his life completely unannounced. She had made him see worlds he could only dream of, experience things that he never in his wildest dreams thought he would have. Then she'd flown right out of it in pretty much the same way. His phone glowed beside him with a new message.

Was it even weird that he wasn't surprised?

 _You up?_

It was Jackie. She had been checking up on him every so often. He sighed deeply and typed back a reply.

 _M: Yeah. Did you sleep?_

The reply was almost immediate.

 _J: Do you think I could? Finals coming up._

 _M: No. I guess not._

 _J: Did you dream about her again?_

 _M: Yeah. Third time today. Even my daydreams aren't safe._

 _J: Marco, maybe you should talk to your folks again?_

He looked at the screen for a long time. He hadn't really been the same since the end of year party all that time ago. He had lost a lot more than he thought he would. It had been brutal. He'd somehow managed to get to this point - pretty much lived in a daze.

He picked up his phone and typed back a reply.

 _M: I miss her._

She'd left his world on the night before summer began. Of course, he'd been dating Jackie then. She had left him to think about things a few minutes later and that had essentially ended that. Losing Star had been a major blow – but he had to hand it to her, she did know how to make an exit.

After she'd left, he followed her with his dimensional scissors. He found her barely clinging to life with Mewnie about to crumble. Toffee was winning the fight and what he'd seen in her eyes was the kind of defeat nobody should ever have to face. Then she'd smiled as she hugged him tight, stolen his scissors and cut him a portal to his own dimension – right back into her room.

The last thing he saw was her teary face smiling at him, like she used to back when everything was perfect, before she was engulfed in flame. She'd saved him from Toffee and from certain death at the cost of her own life.

He hugged his knees and took several deep breaths. It wasn't as bad as it had been that first week. He'd gone into a rage and broken everything in his room. Then he'd moved into the spare room – her room. And there he'd been since.

Was he hoping she would come back? Maybe she would make a flashy entrance like she had all those years ago when she first came to live with them. If she did... if she could, he would hold on to her and never, ever let her go.

"Ma...o...Mar...o...rco..."

Marco sat up and looked around. That one couldn't have been a dream... could it? His phone lit up beside him and he grabbed it to see the message that had come. His eyes widened with recognition.

 _S: Marco Diaz! Come get me now! I don't have time to explain and I'm super sorry I'm telling you like this but you have to get here quick! I'm in Mewnie Castle! You seriously have to hurry, it's life or death!_

He stared at the screen for all of three seconds before jumping out of bed. It was too good to be true but any little glimmer of hope could really turn out to be...

He pressed speed dial and held the phone to his ear as he dragged his backpack out from under the bed. He would have liked to stop searching for her, he would, but there was no replacing Star. And as long as there was hope that she was alive, he wouldn't stop looking.

"Ugh, Marco, do you have any idea what time it is?"

"I do," he said with a smile, "but it's important. It's her."

"Marco, we've done this a million times already. Face it, she's not coming back."

He was silent for a moment.

"Then I'll do it a million and one times. Pony, you're the only one who can help."

"Fine, but this better be good."

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

"Ah, look, your friends are on their way here," said the lizard sitting back in the Mewnie Castle throne – the only one left standing, "we should get ready to welcome them."

The girl with the matted blonde hair looked up at the portal created by the all-seeing eye through the bars of her cage.

There he was.

She hadn't seen him in so long – it felt like decades. And there he was, coming for her - about to walk into certain doom.

"Ma... Marco... N... N... No..."


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys, thanks so much for commenting on my last upload. I really did put some thought into making this a mulitchap so, here you are: Chapter 2! First off, Kuizuki Girl, please don't torture any stuffed animals on my account. It's exactly a month since your post and about twenty hours since I read your post so, many apologies, but I hope this does you justice. Secondly, thanks to everyone who requested a sequel to the first chapter; this chapter is for you guys too.**

 **Thanks for reading, I hope you like the chapter and please look out for the next one. Please let me know what you think? Many thanks :)**

 **(Really, very sorry for the upload issue. Hope it's better now. Thanks for the alerts. Again, really, really, REALLY sorry (-_-*))**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters and/or locations in this fan fiction story that you may recognise from the original series, SVTFOE in any way, shape or form. I am only responsible for the plot and OCs and nothing else. Any resemblance to any possible future characters is purely coincidental.**

"Okay, so I have to warn you. I have this friend, Princess Sparkle Face. She's from the Candy Cane dimension and those peeps are like so annoying, seriously Marco, it'll drive you cray-cray. Anyway, she has a friend whose brother has some dimensional scissors I borrowed for you," said Pony as they crossed through a cave to another portal, "but you gotta make sure you don't lose them. Portal magic is kinda rare or whatever these days. Like, my mom got so mad at me the other day, just because I may have had an accident with her scissors. They're like special limited edition or something I forget. Anyway, remember, don't lose them."

Portal magic was one thing Marco never questioned. It was weird enough that you could cut holes in space and end up in a whole other dimension. This underground cave was one of the last (and oldest) permanently open portals in the entire universe. Toffee had made sure of that. He'd gone around closing all possible entries into Mewnie.

Most folks were already put off by the obvious fact that Mewnie was now overrun by a power-mad lizard bent on total destruction. To that end, those portals that Toffee didn't close himself, the other rulers of the universe closed themselves, because, you know, power-mad lizards bent on total destruction aren't the best of houseguests.

"Thanks for doing this Pony. I owe you one."

"Pshh..." said Pony Head with a roll of her eyes, "if I took you seriously, Marco Diaz, you'd owe me like a million! But it's cool. If you can find my girl Star B and bring her back all good, I guess we could call it even."

Marco smiled at that. Pony and Star were always the best of friends. Whenever Star had needed someone to lean on, a friendly ear or someone to set her straight, she would turn to Pony. Much as his friendship with Star had been pretty strong, hers with Princess Pony Head was pretty strong too – maybe more so since he wasn't sure what they had been when she left.

The last time he'd seen her wasn't exactly the best of times to discuss relationships.

Mewnie was clearly in bad shape (which was seriously putting it lightly) and if Star was still alive (which he most definitely believed was the case) she would need all the help she could get, first to defeat Toffee and second to restore Mewnie.

"Thanks Pony Head. I knew I could count on you."

They got to the end of the cave and found a large door here. It looked massive and entirely too heavy.

"Are you sure this is the way? I mean, that thing has got to be hard to move."

Pony Head smirked at him and tapped the metal with her horn. The entire door shimmered and disappeared.

"It's an old trick. The old people who created the door were pretty weak too. You could wonder if there was a spell or an incantation or something to open, but nah, you just touch it and you're through."

That was probably why Toffee didn't know about this one. It already looked closed. And from what Pony Head had said about the cave (and the millions of cobwebs they had to get through; this cave would be murder if he was asthmatic) this was one of the really, really old throughways of the universe. Who knew why these portals were permanently open? Right now, he was just thankful for them.

"Okay, now this part here gets a bit tricky. I'm gonna need you to get on."

Marco looke Pony Head up and down. There wasn't much to "get on" to.

"Uh... okay."

He held onto Pony's neck and she smirked at him.

"Hold on tight. It's gonna get a little bumpy!"

He only had a second to wrap his arms a little tighter around her neck before they were off flying at an alarming speed.

"Pony, you think you could slow..."

Before he could finish his sentence, a laser beam flew past his head just searing off some of his hair.

"Nope, never mind!" he said as another one missed his cheek by inches. The hallway seemed almost endless. Pony suddenly darted to the left and Marco tensed. His grip nearly slipped in the process. "Hold on tighter Marco. You're going to fall off and I will NOT have the time to come back for your lifeless body."

He tightened his grip a little more and she seemed to speed up even more. She darted to the right narrowly avoiding a sharp stalactite.

"Those are Prickly diamonds. You can't even touch the smooth part without getting pricked. It's impossible. And it takes years to heal. Try not to cut yourself!" she said and darted again avoiding a Prickly Diamond stalagmite.

"Last phase up ahead, this one's a doozie. Seriously Marco, hold on if you wanna keep your legs."

Pony flew through the end of the cave with a whoop and on ahead. He saw why the warning was necessary. Below them was a bridge of pure Prickly Diamond – at least, it gleamed with the same lilac glow. When they got to the other side, Pony slowed down and then stopped altogether when they got to another large door.

Marco hopped off and patted himself to check for bruises. There were a few, but no major cuts or anything. He was still good to go – and alive. He mustn't forget alive – which as far as the cave was concerned, was a major plus.

"Hang on, I've got the key for this somewhere... Here."

She held out her tongue to Marco on which lay a key with an Emerald Heart at the end. She dug around in her mouth for a bit and produced the scissors she had borrowed.

"What's the one thing you have to remember?"

"Bring Star back."

"No, the other thing!" said Pony looking impatient.

"Uh..." said Marco looking a little blank.

"Ugh! Don't lose the scissors, you dope. If you lose them, Princess Sparkle Face will _**kill**_ you. I mean it. This guy once cut one of her flowers to give to her as a present and she burned him up right there on her shiny blue carpet. So don't lose them. It's all up to you now."

Pony turned and cut open a portal with her horn.

"Hey, why didn't you do that before?" asked Marco indignantly.

"Because this one's going to my dimension, not to Mewnie; no portals allowed in Mewnie, remember?"

"Oh, I remember. Then why didn't you open one – to get inside this cave!"

She beamed at Marco giving him her biggest cutest look and then quickly disappeared into the portal she had created. At least he had a pair of scissors to travel with. He shuddered as he thought of Princess Sparkle Face... He opened his pack and shoved the scissors inside, far from where they would be noticed. That way he could only get them when he needed them.

He opened his wallet and looked at the picture he'd put there of him and Star from one of their wacky adventures. She had a sombrero and mask on and he had the maracas.

"I'm coming for you Star. Just you hold on."

Hefting his pack on his back once more, he touched the door in front of him. He felt a light breeze pulling him into the darkness of the cave ahead as he stepped through.

The moment he had, the door he had touched materialised back into place and the suction got even more powerful. Before he knew it, Marco was swept off his feet and through the darkness. It was disorienting being dragged through a hole like that. There was almost no telling which way was which.

Then he noticed a light up ahead. It must have been the main portal – the one that always stayed open. He would be in Mewnie in a matter of seconds. Clutching his wallet to his chest, Marco shut his eyes and prepared to be pulled through to another dimension.

With a bright flash of light, he was through.

This trip was much rougher than the ones Marco had taken before and it must have taken a toll on him. All of a sudden, everything was heavy. He couldn't even lift a finger from where he lay, let alone take in his surroundings. With a groan, he lay down his head and passed out with his wallet still tightly clutched to his chest.


End file.
